Israel's Deputy Foreign Minister said on Saturday that the international community needs to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear capabilities after the country's hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was re-elected. "With the results of the election in Iran, the international community must stop a nuclear Iran and Iranian terror immediately," said Israel's Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon.
"If there was a shadow of hope for a change in Iran, the renewed choice of Ahmadinejad expresses more than anything the growing Iranian threat," Ayalon said in a statement. Other Israeli officials made similar comments, but the government has not yet offered an official statement on Iranian leader's re-election. Cabinet minister Silvan Shalom called on "the United States and the free world to re-evaluate their policies toward Iran regarding its nuclear programme."
Ahmadinejad has called for Israel to be wiped off the map and the Jewish state sees Tehran's nuclear aspirations as a threat to its existence. Israel has said it supports efforts to try to talk Iran out of building nuclear weapons but believes it should be limited to a set timeframe and has said all options should be kept on the table. Iran denies seeking nuclear arms and has so far shrugged off Western pressure to freeze its programme.